Introduction: In
October 2003 I started making enquiries about a family holiday to Cuba the
following Easter. I found VoyagerCuba to be most helpful and they were able to
book flights, accommodation at a range of places and a hire car. Although one
of the top birding sites Zapata Swamp didn’t greatly appeal to Megan or the
kids and VoyagerCuba had n accommodation their either. We settled for a 13
night itinerary flying out from Gatwick with Cubana and staying in Havana and four
other places further west.
Mid
March: I received an email to say that Cubana had
significantly overbooked our flights. Options were to go as planned and face a
scrum at the airport and the possibility of not getting on the flight or to go
on a new flight two days later and return three days later with £400
compensation and the extra night in Havana free. VoyagerCuba were able to do
this keeping the main/non-Havana part of our trip unchanged. This seemed the
better option although it meant travelling out on Megan’s birthday. We’d also not
appreciated that the new flight was only to Paris from where it was Cubana’s
normal packed service via Holguin.
Monday
05 April. We left Gatwick at 12:05 and arrived at Havana two
stops later at 22:20 local time. The flight from Paris was completely full and
rather cramped although we’d probably chosen the better option (and the rest of
the family appreciated their £100 compensation). Immigration and Customs was
slow and much to her annoyance Megan had two oranges and three apples
confiscated, a sort of negative birthday present! By the time we had cleared
the airport and been driven to the Seville Hotel it was gone midnight.
Tuesday
06 April. We had breakfast and a short wander around Havana to
see the sea and buy some food (easier said than done as very little choice)
before returning to the hotel. I saw 6 Brown Pelicans, 15 Laughing
Gulls, 2 Red-legged Thrushes, Palm Warbler and 4 Tawny-shouldered
Blackbirds (my first new bird, but something I never saw again). Picking up our hire car was a very long process, despite it
being booked, and took the rest of the morning although fortunately we just
managed to do so before they closed for lunch. We drove to Soroa, about 90 km
west of Havana, taking about 90 minutes. We stopped on the edge of town to buy
some oranges from a lady selling them by the road and soon after joined an
almost deserted motorway. In Soroa we turned up into the wooded hills to Villa
Soroa, our very pleasant accommodation for the next three nights. While the
others enjoyed the Villa Soroa and its swimming pool I saw a daylight Cuban
Pygmy Owl, 2 Cuban Emeralds, 2 Cuban Trogons, 6 West
Indian and a male Cuban Green Woodpeckers, 2 Cuban Pewees, 10
more Red-legged Thrushes, Black-whiskered Vireo, 3 Cuban
Blackbirds and 3 Cuban Orioles (lumped into Greater Antillean Oriole
at the time of our visit). Most were new and the Trogon, perhaps the world’s
best, my most wanted bird.
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| Josh and Megan in a busy Havana street, not that many of the shops had much in them |
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| Havana backstreets |
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| our accommodation at Soroa |
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| the swimming pool |
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| Brooke Bond Tropical Birds #26 |
Wednesday
07 April. We spent all day around Soroa, visiting the
Orquideario and climbing up to the mirador (me more than once) and in the pool (not me). The dry forest
here was full of birds and during the day I saw White-crowned Pigeon, Ruddy
Quail-Dove, 4 Great Lizard Cuckoos, 6 Cuban Emeralds, 11 Cuban
Trogons, 13 Cuban Todies (automatic bird of the trip), 4 West
Indian and male Cuban Green Woodpeckers, Cuban Pewee, 4 La
Sagra Flycatchers, 5 Grey and a Loggerhead Kingbird, 3 Northern
Mockingbirds, a superb Cuban Solitaire (eventually seen singing from
the Mirador), 15 Red-legged Thrushes, 3 Black-whiskered Vireos,
male Black-throated Blue, 2 Black-throated Green, Black &
White and 5 Yellow-headed Warblers, Ovenbird, Northern
Waterthrush, 3 American Redstarts, 4 Cuban Blackbirds, 30 Greater
Antillean Grackles, Cuban Oriole, Western Spindalis, 4 Red-legged
Honeyeater and 4 Yellow-faced Grassquits. I had hoped we might find
Bee Hummingbird in the Orchid Gardens but no luck.
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| friendly lizard, possibly Brown Anole? |
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| me and Josh |
Friday
09 April. A final walk up to the mirador before breakfast
repeated recent favourites with 4 Ruddy Quail Doves, 3 Cuban Trogons, Cuban Tody, Ovenbird, American
Redstart and Cuban Solitaire heard. It was a 230km drive to our next
destination, Maria La Gorda. It was on the peninsula de Guanahacabibes and
about as far west as one could go in Cuba. We set off and had been going 20
minutes or so when we realised we’d not emptied one of the wardrobes at Villa
Soroa. We returned just as the cleaning lady was taking our left clothes to
reception. Continuing on our journey we stopped at a very busy Pinar del Rio
where Megan was able to do some limited shopping. Further on we topped up with
petrol as there were limited places allowed to sell it to foreigners.
Approaching Maria La Gorda, at km 27, we saw two very smart Blue-headed
Quail-Doves and heard a Cuban Trogon. We arrived at Maria La Gorda
mid/late afternoon, checked into our cabins and wandered along the sandy beach.
Few birds seemed in evidence although we did see 2 Killdeer, Blackpoll
and 2 Yellow-headed Warblers and American Redstart.
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| Maria La Gorda, we had two cabins set back from the beach |
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| Maria La Gorda beach |
Saturday
10 April. All day at Maria La Gorda with a bit of paddling,
swimming and snorkelling just offshore. I was at a severe disadvantage for the
last two, being a poor swimmer and my beard not being an effective seal for a
face mask. Birds seen around Maria La Gorda included 2 Magnificent Frigatebirds,
6 Zenaida Doves, 2 Cuban Parrots, Cuban Pygmy Owl, 8 Cuban
Emeralds, 2 Cuban Crows, Cuban Vireo, 2 Palm and 12 Yellow-headed
Warblers, American Redstart, 4 Cuban Bullfinches and 12 Cuban
Orioles. Best bird was seen from our veranda, a Bee Hummingbird that
appeared briefly on some nearby flowers. I staked them out periodically for the
rest of our stay but never saw it again. Frustrating.
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| away from the beach at Maria La Gorda |
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| Cuban Rock Iguana at Maria La Gorda |
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| Josh and Megan snorkelling |
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| I hadn't really got the idea |
Easter
Sunday 11 April. Another day at Maria La Gorda including a trip on a
dive boat out towards a reef for snorkeling. It wasn’t a great success. I
couldn’t swim well enough to join in, they didn’t have flippers small enough
for Josh and if he wore socks in them the weight dragged him down, Megan
couldn’t see very well without her glasses so it was only Nessa who made the
most from it. Around Maria La Gorda, including along a track running inland, I
saw 3 Key West and 3 Blue-headed Quail-Doves (excellent views of
all apart from of the latter which was a decent flight view), Great Lizard
Cuckoo, 10 Antillean Palm Swifts, 8 Cuban Emeralds, an
excellent Cuban Trogon with another heard, 7 Cuban Vireos, 4 Palm,
male albilora Yellow-throated, Black & White and 14 Yellow-headed
Warblers, Ovenbird, 3 American Redstarts, 5 Cuban
Bullfinches, 2 Indigo Buntings and 4 Western Spindalis. A sneaky
Cuban Pygmy Owl calling soon after dawn remained unseen despite some
effort to track it down.
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| Maria La Gorda dive boat |
Monday
12 April. On our final morning at Maria La Gorda before
leaving I saw a Giant Kingbird along the inland track. It was unexpected
although there have been sightings of this scarce species here before (and
since) and by now I was very familiar with Grey and Loggerhead
Kingbirds which I’d seen several of virtually every day we’d been on Cuba
(5 and 6 respectively today). Also Blue-headed Quail-Dove, White-eyed
Vireo, 3 Cuban Orioles and 3 Indigo Buntings. Our departure
from Maria La Gorda coincided with a mass migration to the sea of red crabs
(red morph of the Land or Zombie Crab Gecarcinus ruricola). We saw
thousands on a short section of the road and it was impossible not to continue
without squashing many which was upsetting. Josh jumped out to take a photo of
the crabs. Nessa couldn’t as she was sitting in the middle of the back seat as
we were giving a lift to one of the hotel workers who was heading home. The
photos didn’t come out well and I’ve inadvertently lost them anyway. Once clear
of the Zombie Crabs we continued on to Vinales, 160 km away, arriving late
afternoon at La Ermita, sat on the top of a rounded hill. It looked rather
better from the outside than it was having a rather run down feel and very
dodgy air-con and despite being on a hill was very humid. On the journey we saw
3 Neotropic Cormorants, juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, 2 Snail
Kites and at La Ermita at dusk 2 Antillean Nighthawks.
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| leaving Maria La Gorda |
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| Vinales Valley |
Tuesday
13 April. A day in the Vinales Valley including a tour of Cueva del
Indio and the rather brash Mural de la Prehistoria. Later I birded along a
decent track towards a large lake hoping for Olive-capped Warbler, my
most likely new bird. They were common, I saw 26! Also seen were Little Blue
Heron, Osprey, what looked like a Gundlach’s Hawk over La
Ermita, 8 Hudsonian Whimbrel, 30 Antillean Palm Swifts, singles
of both woodpeckers, 6 American Kestrels, 4 Cuban Pewees, 7 Palm,
a female Black-throated Blue and 3 Yellow-headed Warblers, 5 American
Redstarts and 12 Yellow-faced Grassquits. A better night with the
air-con off and windows open although a few mosquitoes then invited themselves
in.
Wednesday
14 April. We visited Cayo Jutias, about 60km away on the north coast.
Not for the first time we gave a local woman a lift part of the way – Josh not
being keen as he had to sit next to her. In some towns there seemed to be an
official organising lifts and flagging vehicles. At Cayo Jutias I hoped there
might be some migrants although quite by surprise the best birds seen were on
the way 6km east of Santa Lucia where a flock of 12 Cuban Grassquits
were by the road. They were much smarted than expected and not something I’d
anticipated seeing so a double bonus. Cayo Jutias was reached by a causeway
passing through mangroves which were hard to see into. The Cayo itself was hard
to move around on but despite this a good selection of migrants were seen – a Solitary
Sandpiper, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (and a tideline corpse), 12 Yellow,
2 Palm, a yellow-lored dominica Yellow-throated, 2 Black
& White and 2 Parula Warblers,2 Northern Waterthrushes, 4
Yellowthroats, 6 American Redstarts. 15 Blue Grosbeaks, 60
Indigo Buntings and a male Baltimore Oriole. Also seen were 6 Double-crested
Cormorants, single Green and Little Blue Herons, 2 Common
Black Hawks, Great Lizard Cuckoo, 2 Cuban Emeralds and a Cuban
Green Woodpecker. Back at La Ermita a superb male Ruby-throated
Hummingbird was feeding on flowers by the entrance. A scarce migrant in
Cuba but not the hummer I was hoping for improved views of. Seven Olive-capped
Warblers were also seen and later 3 Antillian Nighthawks as we
walked to a hotel worker’s house for a Cuban meal. It was a novel experience if
not a lot cheaper than one in the hotel would have been.
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| Western Cuba |
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| Western Cuba with thumb-print |
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| causeway to Cayo Jutias |
Thursday 15 April. We left La Ermita and drove to La Guira National Park where
we visited Cueva de los Portales. The caves and very basic breeze block building
with the bed where Che Guevara’s hid out during the Cuban Missile Crisis were
not very impressive. The surrounding forest was nice and held a few birds
including a very vocal Cuban Solitaire which remained hidden. Cuban Trogons were more obvious, we saw 6, and also a Ruddy Quail-Dove,
2 Cuban Emeralds, 2 West Indian Woodpeckers, 4 Cuban Pewees, an identifiable Cuban Martin (what
was to be my last new bird), 6 Red-legged Thrushes, Olive-capped and 4 Yellow-headed
Warblers, male Yellowthroat, 8 Cuban Bullfinches,
8 Cuban Blackbirds, 8 Western Spindalis and 5 Red-legged Honeyeaters. We continued to Hotel Mirador in San Diego
de los Banos. It was the first place we’d stayed where we were the only
foreigners so a bit off the tourist track, something the children were a bit
nervous about. That the only occupant of a small swimming pool was a presumed
pet eight-foot alligator rather reinforced that feeling. We wandered around the
town and found a small bakers that opened at 09:00 the following morning but
not much else.
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| Cueva de los Portales |
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| Che's bed is here |
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| Hotel Mirador's paddling pool was almost as appealing |
Friday 16 April. Megan and I went to the bakers straight after breakfast.
There were 12-15 locals standing around in a rather haphazard fashion when we
arrived a few minutes before it was due to open. The shop opened promptly and
customers were served for 5-10 minutes, each knowing where they were in the
queue, until all the bread was sold. Most but not all of those ahead of us were
fortunate and we would have felt really guilty if we’d denied a loaf to a local. Shopping in Cuba was quite unlike anything we were used to. We packed up and drove back to La Guira where
we visited the Sculpture Park and a forest trail nearby, effectively providing
my last birding of the trip. I saw American Purple
Galinule, Scaly-naped Pigeon,
Ruddy Quail-Dove,
4 Cuban Emeralds, Cuban Trogon
(with several others heard), 2 Cuban Todies, West Indian and Cuban Green
Woodpecker, Cuban Pewee, 2 La Sagra Flycatchers,
10 Grey
and a Loggerhead Kingbird, Grey Catbird, nice views of a Cuban Solitaire
(with several others heard), 10 Red-legged Thrushes, 6 Black-whiskered
Vireos, Olive-capped and male
Black & White Warbler,
Yellowthroat, 8 Cuban Bullfinches,
6 Western Spindalis and 6 Yellow-faced Grassquits. We drove back into Havana dropped the
car off (much easier than picking it up) and returned to Hotel Sevilla for three
nights.
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| La Guira Sculpture Park |
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| San Diego de los Banos |
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| returning to Havana |
Saturday 17-Monday 19 April. We had three whole days wandering around
Havana, visiting museums and galleries and even a department store where we had to queue to enter then found most of the shelves bare. I saw just 13 species during this time,
the pick being a Brown Pelican, 2 American Kestrels, 22 Laughing Gulls, 9 Royal Terns,
3 Antillean Palm Swifts, 8 Cuban Martins, Northern Nockingbird, 2 Red-legged
Thrushes, and 6 Greater Antillean Grackles.
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| inside Hotel Sevilla |
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| Hotel Sevilla view |
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| West along the Malecon |
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| East along the Malecon |
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| Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta |
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| Castillo del Morro from Castillo de San Salvador |
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| Christ of Havana |
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| Capitolio Nacional de la Habana |
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| Gran Teatro de La Havana from Capitolio Nacional |
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| Fabrica de Tabacos Partgas |
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| Jardin Diana de Gales (Princess Diana Memorial Garden) |
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| Convento de San Francisco de Asis |
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| Museo de la Revolucion |
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| La Catedral de la Virgen Maria de la Concepcion Inmaculada de La Habana |
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| Plaza de la Catedral |
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| Paseo de Marti |
one of our rather nice rooms at Hotel Sevilla
Tuesday 20 April. Our Cubana flight was due to leave at 22:30 the previous evening but it was delayed until the early hours. We came back by Holguin
and Paris and were very pleased to finally get home. It had been an enjoyable and very memorable trip, at a time of great change in Cuba.
[blogged during lockdown April 2020]
one of our rather nice rooms at Hotel Sevilla
